Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, may be in a world of hurt. True, he has had some big debts around his massive real estate company. Yet, his solutions have given the perception of dancing on the edge of corruption.
Ivanka Trump’s husband has proven to be a great deal like her father. Kushner did not divest from his entanglement of real estate business when he went to work in the White House.
One of his greatest mistakes was buying a tower with the unfortunate address of 666 Fifth Avenue. It has been an albatross around his neck ever since the housing bubble burst.
Now, we have found that Kushner’s family sold a building just two months after Trump became president and installed his son-in-law as his senior adviser. Not only that, the Kushner family sold a Brooklyn, NY building to a company where the government of Japan owns the controlling share, a minimum of 33 percent.
The $103 million sale reflected the Kushner family’s efforts of looking abroad for investors. However, Ivanka’s husband has been at cross purposes, doing deeds for personal gain with foreign businesses and governments while serving at the uppermost levels of the U.S. government.
This was a sweet deal for Kushner. The Japanese company, NTT, bought the building for 60 percent over value.
NTT, denied that the purchase was for political gain. Bloomberg News reported:
‘There’s no evidence the NTT company made the investment with a political intent — it denies that, as do all the others involved — or that there has been any political gain. However, this is the kind of deal that conflict-of-interest rules seek to limit: not only inappropriate entanglements and their appearance but situations where potential favors might one day be paid back. Officials like Kushner are expected under U.S. law to recuse themselves from government decisions that would have a “direct and predictable effect” on their financial interests.’
Since the president’s son-in-law became a co-owner with NTT, according to Bloomberg News:
‘Kushner Cos. is now a co-owner with the NTT unit. The Japanese firm owns 23 percent of the building through limited liability companies plus more through a Normandy-controlled investment fund, a person familiar with the arrangement said. A day after the companies bought 175 Pearl St., the NTT company purchased a stake in Normandy itself. Kushner Cos. maintains a non-controlling share of less than five percent.’
Ironically, Trump appointed Jared Kushner to direct trade policy. Of course, the FBI denied Trump’s advisers security clearance. That meant that Kushner’s reach became far more limited. He was not supposed to sit in on meetings where high-level security issues were discussed or receive classified reports. Kushner asked for far more intelligence reports than any other member of the Trump administration.
The Washington Post reported:
‘U.S. intelligence reports that officials in at least four countries have discussed ways to manipulate Kushner because of his family business. Japan was not among them. A spokesman for Kushner’s lawyer called the Post article inaccurate. Special Counsel Robert Mueller has been looking into whether Kushner brought his family’s search for foreign investors into policy deliberations.’
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